Bathroom Vanity Makeover
Sure, my husband looked at me like I was crazy to makeover a perfectly functioning bathroom. But the end result is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! I absolutely love the way it looks and I am so glad that I put in the long hours to make it how I wanted it. I’ve put together this post to show you how it all worked out.
Supplies:
- Wood for face frame
- Cabinet Side Panels
- White Oak Doors and fronts from Cabinet Door Store
- Stain-I used a combination of White Wash, Early American, and Weathered Gray
- Polycrylic Top Coat
- Wood Putty
- Hardware & installation tool
- Kreg hinge jig
Step 1- Take off doors and drawers
The first step is to take off all the existing doors and drawer fronts. All you need for this step is a drill! Just unscrew those doors and drawers. If I could have sanded this vanity down and stained it, I would have. The doors that came with the house are made from a type of laminate and can’t be stained. So I opted to buy new doors and drawer fronts. If your doors and drawer fronts are wood and can be stained, it would save you money to just reuse them.
Step 2- Add the face frame to the vanity.
I thought that I could just paint the original vanity frames to match the color I was wanting it to be. I tested out the primer on the backs of my drawer fronts first to see if I could get the color to match the stain I was wanting to do. Spoiler alert- it didn’t work out like I wanted so I went with my backup plan, which was to get more red oak panels and cover it with that. I cut the face frames to the length I needed and then attached them to the vanity using my brad nailer. Then I attached the side cabinet panels using wood glue and my brad nailer.
Step 3- Putty the holes
You can get tinted wood putty in different colors to match the stain you’re using. I went with a classic gray to go with the stain I chose. Just put the putty on all of those nail holes and on the seams where the corner pieces meet.
Step 4- Stain everything
I chose to stain all my pieces at varying times. I started with my new cabinet doors and then stained the rest as I went along. You can decide if you want to do it that way or just stain everything all at once. If you want to do it all at once, now is the time! I used a combination of different stains to get the color I want. My best guess is that I did about 20% white wash, 40% weathered gray, and 40% Early American. Then I sealed everything with a top coat finish.
Step 5- Drill hinge holes in new cabinet doors
You can definitely have them drill new holes when you order the cabinet doors. I had them leave it so that I could match the holes on the old doors to have everything line up perfectly. I used this Kreg jig to drill new hinge holes in the doors. I just measured where the old ones were and drilled it in the same spot on the new ones. It worked out pretty well!
After the hinge holes are drilled, you can go ahead and attach those hinges. I did have to adjust mine a little bit because of the extra wood I added to my vanity. There’s a little screw on the hinges that allows you to make the adjustments if you need.
Step 6- Add hardware
Adding hardware to your vanity not only makes it look nicer, but it also helps the finish to last a lot longer. The oils from your hands breaks down the finish so much faster than if you used handles. Using hardware helps to eliminate some of those oils because you’re touching the handles, not the cabinets. I love the modern look of this black hardware. I’ve used these for multiple places in my house because they’re my favorite! This little tool is so helpful to make sure all of your hardware ends up in the right place on your doors and drawers.
And that’s it! It sounds so easy, right? It did take me a little bit longer than this because I actually have two vanities in my master bathroom so I had to do everything here twice! But it was definitely worth the time and effort for this project. I love the way it looks. I know the old vanities were fine but this is definitely more my style and it brings me joy whenever I look at it. I ended up having a couple more projects to complete this master bathroom that I will be posting about soon. Until then, follow me @spetrichhome for more DIY home projects!
